“You know about that?” I asked.

“I know about everything. Lucifer supposedly sent Reyes to get you, to take you back to hell with him so he would have a key into heaven, but Romeo changed his mind and decided to stay on this plane to be with you? To be with the very being he was sent to bring back? Why would he wait an eternity for you, risk so much by sending his only escape route onto this plane, to then turn around and send his army to try to kill you?”

I shrugged. None of it had ever made any sense to me, but who was I to judge? My plans often went awry. Much like my thoughts. Hold the phones. Maybe Satan had ADD, too. It would explain a lot.

“Think about it,” Garrett continued.

I was. How could I not?

“They’ve been trying to kill both of you since you were born. Earl Walker was supposed to kill you, Reyes, but he became obsessed instead. Some pedophile was supposed to kill you, Charles, but Reyes saved you. Again and again. A bond, an otherworldly connection, was formed before you were even born, and it’s strong. It’s kept both of you alive. If that connection is ever severed, you’ll each be much more vulnerable. And I think that’s what they wanted. To sever that connection. To keep you apart until one of you could be killed. But they’ve failed time and time again.”

He was right in at least one aspect: Reyes and I were supposed to grow up together, but he was kidnapped and everything that he’d planned went up in flames.

“Why else would he send hundreds of thousands of his troops to their deaths just to try to navigate the void of oblivion? God made it very difficult to get out of hell. There’s a void, like a moat around a castle, and it’s almost impossible to navigate. That’s why he created Reyes. He is a key, a map through the void. And he wanted to make sure at least one being made it onto this plane who could send you to your grave.”

I crossed my arms. He had me on some points, but lost me on others. He didn’t send Reyes to kill me but to get a portal. Any portal.

Garrett scrutinized the notes, deep in thought. “But then that pesky connection crept in. It’s kept you alive decades longer than most reapers.”

“Hey,” I protested, suddenly offended. “I’m not that old. I’m twenty-seven. Holy cow.”

“But most reapers die young, right? Because most reapers don’t have a lovesick supernatural assassin guarding their asses.”

Reyes had told me that very thing. Most reapers’ physical bodies pass young and then they do their duty for hundreds of years incorporeally.

“But this still begs the question, why would he want you dead, Reyes? You? The only being in existence that could navigate the void? Because you’re going to destroy the world? That’s what’s been keeping him up at nights? He cares that much about humans?” Garrett scoffed. “He cares nothing about us. We’re points in a game, and Earth is the ultimate playing field, but the only one keeping score is him.”

Cookie’s brows drew together in concentration as she absorbed Garrett’s story.

“And he wants a portal to heaven?” he continued. “Why? So he can get his ass handed to him on a silver platter? Again? Why would he want back in there? What’s that old saying? It’s better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven? And he’s the ultimate ruler with hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of beings to serve him. To worship at his feet.”

“So if getting ahold of the portal, aka me,” I said, indicating myself with a sweep of my hand, “isn’t not his motivation, then what is?”

“Fear.”

“Fear?”

“Think about it. He created a son to do his dirty work, and like any pigheaded teenager, the son rebelled. Refused to do his father’s bidding. It was never about a war. It was never about Lucifer getting back into heaven. It’s about something else, something that only he would fear.”

I was sitting on the edge of my seat, chewing on my nails. I totally should have made popcorn. “Okay, so what? What’s he so scared of?”

Garrett pressed his mouth together, then said softly, “You.”

I straightened. “Wh-what? Why would he be afraid of me?”

“No idea, but I have to tell you, I’m more than a little impressed.”

“Me, too. I rock,” I said, pretending to go along with it. He’d lost it. He’d gone over the edge of a waterfall and landed on a sharp, pointy boulder.

Before I could give him my professional opinion of his mental state, he pinned Reyes with a stormy gaze. “You weren’t sent to get her, to bring her back, were you?” When Reyes didn’t answer, he continued. “You were sent to kill her, just in case all the elements that seem to work naturally against a reaper fail. Just in case she lived through all the evil beings on Earth who were attracted to her light, who were drawn to her essence. You were insurance, sent to make sure she was put in the ground before she had a chance to breathe.” He leaned forward, spoke directly to Reyes. “You were created to assassinate her. She would still have been the reaper. She just wouldn’t have had a life as a human. So for some reason, it is Charley in human form that is a threat to him. And you exist for one reason and one reason only. To kill the only being in the universe who was prophesied to bring Daddy down.”

This was great. I wiggled farther into my seat and clasped my hands. It was like being told a very cool bedtime story that had no truth to it whatsoever.

“You’re going to do something,” he said to me, his expression severe. “I’m just not sure what. You’re going to gain some kind of power, or make some big decision that is going to change the course of human history. You are going to bring an army against the ruler of hell and put him down once and for all. And he is doing everything in his power to stop you.”